//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 - Plan Revealed // Story: The Dragonborn Chronicles: Part 1 - Ponies in Skyrim // by Barix123 //------------------------------// Chapter 14 - Plan Revealed The group of five ponies continued their march onward to their unknown destination. Unknown being that Twilight was having a hard time finding any of the landmarks from the map and the ponies with her were starting to get impatient. “Twilight, are we there yet?” Rainbow Dash was the first to complain. “We are looking for a fort three times the size the library used to be. If you don’t see a large stone structure in front of you, then the answer is clearly no.” Twilight retorted, getting a little impatient herself. “A simple no would do. Are we even getting close? We’ve been walking for hours now.” “Two and a half to be exact. We started our trip not to long ago.” “Whatever. Point is it’s been too long already. Don’t you have any spells to get us there faster?” “No, Clairvoyance is one of the few spell’s I havn’t learned yet. The only two that know it are off trying to find the other spot with the X.” “Twilight let me see the map. Maybe I can help.” Applejack interjects. “Ok. I’m getting tired of looking at this thing anyway. Lets rest here for a bit.”         Applejack takes the map for study as the others ponies either sit or lay down to relax their hooves. They hadn’t walked far since the morning but the harsh terrain of Skyrim and the heavy armor had begun to wear down their strength. All of the except Applejack of course. They were starting to wonder how Barix was able to do it all this time. A few minutes past and the country mare seemed to pick up a familiar sighting on the map. “Hey Applejack, didja find anything.” Pinkie chimed in. “Ah think ah did but ah’m still not sure.” “Hey. Did you girls here that?” “What is it Rainbow?” Twilight asks. “It sounds like people coming this way.” Sure enough, five people came walking by having an argument about something. Twilight decides to step in to ask them a question. “Excuse me.” “We don’t have time for creatures like you, step aside.” “Hey! Wait! I just wanted to ask you something.” “Get back here!” Rainbow Dash got up in their face. “Show some respect your talking to pr-Aahh!” She was hit aside by one of the robbed personnel. “Get away from us. We didn’t say you could speak.” “Dashie!” “Rainbow!” “How dare you hit my friend. You're going to pay for that!” “Oooo. What are you going to do, kick us?”         Twilight powered up a lightning spell and shot it directly at the supposed leader. The ball of lightning struck its target, making him fly backwards. The shock of the situation made the others freeze but didn’t hold still for long. Soon they all took up spells of their own getting ready to attack. The ponies did the same thing except one mare. “Fluttershy, stay back. We’ll handle this.” She had no objections listening to Twilight.         This was it, the stand-off. Both groups stood solid waiting for the other to strike first, weapons drawn and spells ready to cast. The tension in the air was so thick it was getting hard to breathe. Finally the silence broke. One of the enemies struck first with a fireball to Twilight. She in turn put a shield up in no time flat absorbing the spell.         With the first attack out of the way the two sides clashed in a fury of attacks and magic. Rainbow and Pinkie were having little trouble with their targets. Rainbow was flying faster than her opponent could keep up. Pinkie kept her opponent busy with impossible angels of distractions and wearing her down with light attacks. Applejack was having trouble with her enemy, wielding that warhammer was hard enough but she also had to magical blows from her enemy. Twilight took care of her foe in record time. The few spells that the enemy was able to caster was nothing against the Element of Magic. In less than thirty seconds the used to be live person was now a charred corpse.         Twilight rushed over to help AJ then went to help her other friends dispatch of the remaining two. It wasn’t that hard at this point, it being two on one odds. Once they had dealt with the threat the lavender princess made sure her friends were ok. “How is everypony? Any injuries?” “Nope. All good here.” “Ah ain’t got nothin ta worry about.” “No scars I can brag about later.” Unlike her friends, the cyan pegasus was kind of disappointed. “Good to hear. Let’s check them out and see if we can’t find something useful.” “TWILIGHT!”         All four ponies look back to where Fluttershy is to see her being held up by the very first person that was struck by the spell Twilight used. He revealed a sharp pair of fangs amongst his teeth and dug them into Fluttershy’s neck. The mare, being dug into, began to scream in agonizing pain. “FLUTTERSHY!!!” Her friends all called out in pleading worry. They had to act quickly and the princess was the first to speak up. “Rainbow! Fly!”         Not needing another word to pull her back into reality, the rainbow mare dashed forward as fast as her wings would carry her. Twilight in turn teleported in front of the monster biting her friend. In One smooth motion she pushed Fluttershy out of it’s grasp, grabbed onto the monster, let Rainbow catch the falling mare to carry away, and delivered the killing blow. “FUS! RO!”         The enemies head was blown clean off, getting shattered into thousands of pieces. The blow she made on the enemy stunned her friends enough to come to a standstill for a moment. As the fresh corpse fell to the ground the group of ponies ran to Fluttershy’s side to help. The poor mare was gasping as if to hold onto life itself. Twilight takes a look at the wound that was bleeding very little if at all. This caught her off guard, the monster had pierced a major artery. She should be bleed to death but she wasn’t. None the less the mage powered every healing spell she could think of and began healing the wound as fast as possible. Fluttershy was still gasping for air even though her wound was healed. “Ah don’t get it. Twi, ah thought you healed her.” “I did, I don’t understand what’s going on.” “Fluttershy, come on. Speak to us.” Fluttershy could only gasp as she tried to reach out to her long time friend. Soon her movements stopped and she laid on the ground limp. “Fluttershy? Fluttershy? ...Fluttershy! Celestia dam it Fluttershy! Get up!” Rainbow raised a hoof about to punch the canary mare awake but couldn’t bring herself to do it. Instead she resorted to burying her face into the yellow colored chest. The soft fur brushing against her face and soaking up her tears. The other ponies stood silent, tears creeping into their face as well, the sorrow bearing down on them. This day, the six best friends from Equestria had just lost an Element of Harmony. They lost one of their own. … … …         Fluttershy gasped to life scaring the others out of their daze. Rainbow was the first to talk after the short silence between the group. “Fluttershy! You’re ok?” “Um...y-yeah. Why do you ask me tha-,” all her friends gave her a friendship death hug trying to kill her again, “...uhh...please let go. Can’t...breath.” After doing so she spoke again. “What happened. It’s all kinda fuzzy.” “Sugarcube, ya were grabbed by that monster thin and bitten on the neck.” “I healed you but when you kept hyperventilate we became very worried about you. Then you just stopped breathing.” Twilight explained. “Oh my.That sounds awful.” “Yeah it was. You were all like, (breathing fast and deep) and *BLAH*. We didn’t know what happened or what to do. Even when Twilight healed you we didn’t know what else we could do. Then you came to life like, GASP! and then-” “It’s ok Pink’s we get the message.” Rainbow said as she stuffed a hoof in Pinkie’s mouth to stop the talking mare. “We can revel over the miracle that was a near death or we can move on. So Twi, you think these guys were holding anything useful.” “Maybe, lets take a peek and see what we can’t dig up.”         The ponies got right to work going though the enemies pockets to find out if they were carrying anything of any importance. The group opted to have Fluttershy lay down near them as to not over exert herself. There wasn’t much they were carrying. Soone enough Pinkie chimes in with something she found. “Ooo ooo ooo. Looky what I found girls! It’s a claw! Two of them actually.”         They huddled close to the pink pony to see that there were indeed two claws she laid on the ground. One was colored a blackish tint with green tipped claws. The other was an all around dull silver shade. “Dragon Claws! By Celestia, this is amazing!” “So awesome!” “Hey ya’ll, look over there. One of um is still alive.” As Applejack points a hoof towards the struggling body Twilight takes both claws, putting them into her satchel. “I got him.” Rainbow announced as she practically slammed on top of the attacker. “Alright spill the beans ace. What are you doing with these dragon claws?!?” “Rainbow calm down.” Twilight pulls her aggressive friend off as the others gathered around. “Sir, please I need you to tell us why you have this claws and why you attacked us.” “Go to Sovngarde you prissy ponies.” He got a buck to the face as a response. “Ahh!” “Oh ah’m sorry my hoof seems ta have developed uh mind of it’s own.” “Applejack stop. We need him to talk.” The alicorn told her off but not Pinkie who was laughing at the action. Celestia knows she wouldn’t be able to stop the Element of Laughter once she starts. Twilight was getting rather annoyed with her friends smacking the one she was trying to question, even if he did attack first. “How about a deal? I’ll heal up your wounds if you tell us what you were doing?” “What! You would let this creep walk again after what he did?” Rainbow Dash ever the offensive one. “Ah must agree Twi. Don’t know about the rest of ya’ll but ah’m not so sure this fella can be trusted.” “Heal me and I’ll rip you throats out and feast on your blood as you slowly die.”         At this point Twilight had enough. She knocked the injured man out cold with a sleep spell. “I can’t work with him. We need Barix down here, he’ll know what to do. Rainbow,” the cyan pegasus turned her attention to her friend as she pulled out one of the claws, “I need you to bring this claw to Barix. Tell him we found vampires and some dragon claws. Just see if you can make a Sonic Rainboom and he should be able to send out a signal letting you know where he’s at.” “I’m on it!” In a flash she grabs the claw and flies upward searching for a draft to help her along. The others regroup themselves. “So those were vampires huh. Not as bad ta deal with as ah thought they’d be.” “That’s because they were just low level vampires. The master vampires are what’s going to be hard to beat. Oh and don’t worry Fluttershy. Any and all effects you might have are null and void thanks to all those healing spells.” “Wh-why? What would have happened to me?” Fluttershy was a little nervous at the prospect of side effects from a bite. “I geuss something along the lines of another Flutterbat incident.” “What!? Who said bat’s? Where are they!?” Pinkie yelled frantically looking everywhere for the ugly creatures. “No bats, around here sugarcube.” “Oh. OK.” “Hey Twi, I know RD as much as any of us and ah’m thinkin that she might not be able to find her way back as fast.” “That’s ok. Barix and Rarity both have the spell Clairvoyance to find their way back. No need to worry.” “Ah’ll second that. For now ah’ll get us a fire going. Don’t know bout you girl's but that fight made me a might hungry.”         Some time past with little happening. Twilight made sure that the captor was tied up good and wouldn’t die from blood loss or anything else. Applejack was heating up some soup Pinke brought. They were going to eat that with a side of wild berries Fluttershy picked out close by. It wasn’t long, or it didn't seem long but must have been only half a day, before Barix, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash showed up. Barix got right to work examining the bodies as Twilight was explaining what happened. “So what know?” “I trust you know what to do if a vampire bites one of you.” “Yes nothing to worry about.” “Good, now I’ll take the one you caught.” “Not without me you don’t.” Rainbow interjected. “I don’t think so, I have my own way of getting info and I don’t need you of anyone in my way.” “I don’t care what you say, those hurt Fluttershy and I’m not going to let them get away so easily.” Barix was really considering it. The flyer was definitely aggressive enough. “Ok you can join me, I could use someone to handle the dirty work.” “That’s what I’m talking about.”         Barix grabs the unconscious vampire and drags him some distance away from the group with RD right behind. Rarity was talking to her friends when Twilight rejoined the group. “Oh darling that’s terrible. And you’re sure you’re ok?” “Y-yes. I’m fine. Thanks for your concern though.” Fluttershy softly spoke. “I made sure nothing would happen to her. All effects and diseases she might have gotten are gone.” “That’s good to hear. I dont know what the rest of us would do if we lost anyone. I don’t even want to think about.” “Now there’s an idea. Speakin of ah can hear Barix and RD go at it down there. They must really be hammerin that fella fer everythin he’s got.” ‘Come on, can’t I tell them already? The suspense is killing me.’ ‘Pinkie shut up. You already pinkie promised me offline that you won’t reveal the story line to the other’s. And stop breaking the fourth wall.’ ‘Ok.’ “Hey Pinkie what’s with the sad face?” “It’s nothing Twilight. Just thinking of what will happen later.” “No need to darling’s. Here comes Barix and Rainbow Dash now.”         Sure enough the five ponies saw the two walk over. “So how did it go? What did you find out?” Twilight asks the pair. “Barix can be really brutal when he want’s to be.” Rainbow answered first. “That’s...not what I meant.” “Do you want the short version or the long one.” Barix replied. “Um...short now give us the details on the way to...where ever we need to go.” “Alright. The older and more powerful vampires, known as ancient vampires, are trying to revive their dead king in hopes of getting a second chance of taking over the world. Oh and they need the Dragon Claws to do that.”